Unearthed Stories 2nd Anniversary!

People always says that time flies… and it does, indeed! May 2025 is actually the second anniversary of Unearthed Stories and we wanted to celebrate.

For those who don’t know, I decided to create Unearthed Stories to give my significant other—lead writer, Livia J. Elliot—a platform where to publish her work. We even named it for us, because yes, we are that cheesy!

We have worked together on it from beginning and up to now. Designing the idea and the type of stories we wanted to include, how we would leverage the interactivity mechanic to do something unique, the look-and-feel and the clean vibes we wanted, the type of covers (which have seen upgrades through the years), and even the idea of making themed releases with special logos.

We do everything in Unearthed Stories together and, given it is so special for us, we wanted to celebrate its second anniversary with something we had long considered doing: to novelise an unearthed story and release it as a physical book! And we are doing it through a Kickstarter full of rewards!

The Kickstarter

Novelising Dance With Me

After two years we produced a lot of interactive stories—fifteen in total, including those from invited writers (you can read more about them here). But let’s be honest: we all have favourites, and my favourite so far has to be Dance With Me.

Dance With Me is one of the inaugural five stories we released when Unearthed Stories launched for the first time in Android only—those were Restorers, Mien, Dance With Me, Drifting Tavern, and Potions Shoppe. It is also one of the earliest attempts at experimenting with mechanics¹, and—most importantly—a very personal story for Livia and, therefore, myself.

Novelising it was not as straightforward as it may seem, and we are very proud of the result. The novelisation does differ a bit from the interactive version since it has extended scenes, bits that do not happen in the interactive version, and exclusive author notes. Through the kickstarter campaign, we will release the novelisation as:

• An audiobook, narrated by the incredible Alison Phoenix.
• An illustrated paperback containing five of the original illustrations (which you can find in Unearthed Stories), and with a cover and internal design done by Livia herself.
• An illustrated hardcover containin: a foreword by author Joshua Walker, two exclusive illustrations by Jose Arturo Bustamante, an exclusive internal design (also done by Livia herself), and the original cover of the game in the naked hardcover!

The hardcover will be exclusive to the Kickstarter, and the paperback and audiobook will be available through major distributors afterwards. Regardless, the interactive version of Dance With Me will remain free-to-read through Unearthed Stories.

Unearthed Bonuses!

Of course there was going to be more! We also need to celebrate through Unearthed Stories, and so we are doing two crazy things.

The first one is the release of Our Own Rhythm, an interactive standalone set in the same universe of Dance With Me, now called Tales of the Bookshelf. Our Own Rhythm is novel-size (around 70,000 words), a standalone (it can be read without having read Dance With Me), but set in the same universe—meaning that it remains similar in depth, theme, and allegories while following a completely new set of characters.

Our Own Rhythm was illustrated by mixed-media artist, A.A. Chernyshov.

Are you interested? Here is the description!

Nina, a wooden doll, awakens enchanted by the Lady's magic—her fae owner—and ready to tap-dance. She does, and the Lady praises Nina's rhythms and unique style... but her world shifts when she meets the other enchanted dolls. Their words, sharp and biting, turn her passion into torment, and Nina loses something deeper—herself. Can she rediscover her rhythm after it's been silenced? Can she find herself again? A coming-of-age dark fantasy story exploring bullying, identity, and the strength it takes to rediscover oneself in the aftermath.

Our Own Rhythm will be a paid-to-read story, and will be part of the Kickstarter—meaning that different pledges will allow you to get access to it while getting all the goodies related to Dance With Me! If you want to try this one before committing, you’ll be able to play-read the beginning of Chapter 1, as with every other premium story in the app.

What if I tell you there is still more?

As you may or may not know (in which case, we forgive you) we do have cosy fantasy in Unearthed Stories! Those are Herald: A Flawless Spy, Potions Shoppe, and Drifting Tavern, three interactive stories set in The World of Dely’rae². This is a pretty fun world in which there are centuries-old potion makers, a city made of floating ships, undeads which are immortal academics, clockmaster rabbits, spy cats (that’s Herald, for y’all), policedogs (because, of course), and ink-letter that walk around outside books.

If that caught your attention, you’ll love the next bit: through the Kickstarter campaign, you’ll be able to get Livia to write an interactive short-story, set in Dely’rae, with a main character inspired by your pet (cat or dog)! The caveat: there are only four seats for this.

It is a lot of work, and so we had to limit it to four seats only. These stories will be timed out, and we (Livia and myself, Fernando) will work with the pledgers of this tier—aptly called: The Pet Lover—to get the stories done. These will be published as free-to-read through Unearthed Stories.

Over To You

If any of this enticed you—the Kickstarter is almost around the corner! Help us spread the word about it, follow us during the pre-launch, and pledge during the campaign if you choose to support us. We will appreciate all the help!